No Such Thing as a Free Safe Lunch: The Cost of Food Safety Regulation in the Meat Industry

This study develops theoretical and econometric cost function models for the meat industry to test the hypothesis of safety exogeneity, i.e., that product safety does not affect productive efficiency. Using plant-level data from the Census of Manufactures, this hypothesis is rejected. Estimates of the impacts of food safety regulation on variable cost of production in the beef, pork, and poultry industries show that the efficiency costs of food safety regulations could plausibly exceed benefits estimated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Costs of regulation per pound of meat are found to be size neutral for all but the smallest plants. Copyright 2000, Oxford University Press.